Will.i.am is the voice of Expo 2020 Dubai in impressive new advert

The Black Eyed Peas star rhymes over the one-minute promo for next year's Expo 2020

Expo 2020's impressive petal-shaped Thematic Districts, representing opportunity, mobility and sustainability, during sunset in Dubai

A decorative facade of a building in the Opportunity District of the sprawling Expo 2020 site

The three Thematic Districts will be a central part of Expo 2020 Dubai.

A glimpse at the Expo 2020 Dubai site, which is continuing to take shape with just one year to go until the event gets under way.

Facades and shading at Expo 2020's Thematic Districts 

The exterior of a building in the Opportunity District

Expo 2020's mobility pavilion under construction

Through the trellis of Al Wasl dome 

Will.i.am is the voice of the latest advert to promote the Expo 2020 Dubai.

The rapper, presenter and Black Eyed Peas star provides the voice over for the advert which compares next year’s Expo with some of humankind's greatest feats.

“You weren’t there when humans conquered fire, when they wore animal skin attire or invented the bicycle tyre,” Will.i.am rhymes as images of virtual reality flash up on screen. “You weren’t there when they created algebra, built the pyramids in Giza or painted the Mona Lisa. You weren’t there when they first made paper or built the amphitheatre, when they calculated gravity or made flying a reality. You weren’t there when they composed the classics or discovered antibiotics, made the mechanical clock or taught the world to rock. ”

He goes on to add, “But you could be there and with your own eyes witness new acts of human genius,” he says. “Be there to see the alliance of art, music, fashion and science. See a futuristic festival filled with ideas new and radical, performances magical, in a six-month-long spectacle. This, you can’t afford to miss. It’s the best of human kind and the greatest show of our time.”

Music aside, the 44-year-old is founder of artificial intelligence company I.AM+, a role which saw him travel to Dubai earlier this year for the World Government Summit.

The advert was released on the official YouTube channel for the Expo 2020 Dubai on Monday, October 14 in seven different languages.

The Expo 2020 Dubai will open on October 20, 2020 and run for six months, finishing on April 10, 2021. To mark the one-year countdown, a special free concert is being held in Dubai's Burj Park on Sunday, October 20, which will see performances from Mariah Carey and Hussain Al Jassmi.